Wilkinson, who joined in 1955, was not the first black ballet dancer to be given a regular post; that honor belongs to Janet Collins, hired by the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in 1951. Nor is she the most famous of such pioneers. Arthur Mitchell originated important roles in several seminal Balanchine ballets in the 1950s and '60s, then founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem. But Wilkinson was the first black ballet dancer to tour the nation - not only to towns in the east, west and north but also to St. Louis, Macon and Savannah, Ga., Charleston, S.C., and Hattiesburg, Miss

A couple of years ago, I saw a videotape of a mid-1950s Hallmark Hall of Fame* presentation of Balanchine's Nutcracker. I'm sure that Arthur Mitchell's performance in "Arabian" was the first time many Americans had seen a black man dancing with white women.

I have to remember that I'd forgotten, if I ever knew, about Ms. Wilkinson. I'm going to labor mightily to see this film next week.

* An excellent show, from the days when television was considered an art. It was an anthology of dance, theatre, and other classical art forms.

it was indeed arabian, mitchell was surrounded by four small children. in the pas de deux, there was no cavalier, and diana adams was partnered by edward villella (candy cane), mitchell, deni lamont (chinese) and roy tobias (spanish). it was broadcast on december 25 1958, live, as part of the program cbs playhouse 90.

i must correct myself here; the broadcast was on christmas eve, not christmas day. balanchine himself played drosselmeyer and the nutcracker prince was a very young robert maiorano. allegra kent was the dewdrop, diana adams the sugar plum.

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